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Date: January 24, 2013 Contact: Jennifer Sykes Phone: 816-241-7006 KANSAS CITY, MO – Today, the Honorable Judge John Torrence ruled in favor of the Health Forward Foundation in a lawsuit against Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). Judge Torrence awarded an immediate judgment in favor of the Foundation against HCA in the amount of $161,908,504, plus its attorneys’ fees and ordered an independent accounting of several hundred million dollars that HCA claimed to have spent.
Health Forward filed a lawsuit against HCA and its affiliate, HM Acquisition, LLC in October 2009 to ensure that it had complied with its more than $950 million obligation to the people of Greater Kansas City. The purpose of the lawsuit was to determine if HCA had complied with its obligations to make $450 million in capital improvements to existing Health Midwest facilities and provide over $500 million in charity care.
“As a voice for the uninsured and underserved, the Health Forward Board of Directors felt it had the fiduciary responsibility to make sure that this population had been afforded the services promised to them through the sale of Health Midwest,” said Karen Cox, PhD, RN, FAAN, Health Forward Board Chair. “We appreciate the decision the court has made today and we look forward to continuing our work eliminating barriers and promoting quality health for the uninsured and underserved in our service area.”
The Foundation was created in 2002 by then Attorney General Jay Nixon as part of HCA’s purchase of Health Midwest, a regional nonprofit health care provider that operated 11 hospitals and other facilities in Missouri and Kansas. Since it began grantmaking in 2005, Health Forward has awarded over $160 million in grants to agencies in its service area of Kansas City, MO and the counties of Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte in Kansas and Cass, Lafayette and Jackson in Missouri.
Media may contact Paul Seyferth at the law firm of Seyferth Blumenthal & Harris at 816-756-0700 for further inquiries.
